We’re LOST!

I’ve been asked for an explanation.  Who, or what, is LOST?  Whew!  That’s a good question!  It’s given me the opportunity to reflect back and try to figure out the origins of a really fun and useful group.

I guess the actual beginning was a Wednesday in the summer of ’97, when John, KB8UWA stopped by my house and suggested we take out some of the equipment we’d been acquiring for RACES and check into the weekly net.  Well, having nothing better to do that night we began loading equipment in the car when Jim, N8JG stopped by to visit.  After telling him what we were planning, he decided HE didn’t have anything better to do either!  So, cars loaded we headed off.  I don’t think we had a destination in mind when we left, but we ended up near Fort Custer along M-96.  After setting up, Max, KB8YPZ was on the radio and near, so HE joined us.  So now there’s four of us sitting along side the highway, antenna’s in the air, canopy over us, and motorists giving funny looks!  We all had such a great time that we vowed to do this often.

There wasn’t much left of that summer, but we did set-up portable stations at Coldbrook County Park and Ft. Custer State Park.  It made us even more determined to improve our stations and let other hams know how much fun it was.

In the spring of ’98 we started with a R.A.C.E.S. meeting at the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Department.  Members had been encouraged to bring their portable stations and it was an amazing collection of ideas and possibilities.  The rest of that summer could be described as a “tour” of the Kalamazoo County Parks.  The one thing that stays with me the most about that “tour” is the warm welcome and encouragement given to us by every park ranger and county employee we encountered.  We really need to make a point off visiting each of these locations again.  Art, NK8X started joining us on these excursions as net control for the ARPSC, and the number of participants grew as the summer progressed.

The word best describing the summer of ’99 would have to be ENTHUSIASM!  With an absolutely great group of new hams, and a solid core of holdovers, we embarked on an aggressive tour of most of the outlying fire departments.  Soon, an acronym was developed, and we needed to come up with the words that it stood for!  Hmmm … L.O.S.T. …….  Line Of Sight Team!  Cool, now we needed something that made it a little more official.  A club call sign was the answer!  Well, as every ham knows, you have to have a board and officers and on and on and on.  Wait a minute!  This was supposed to be a “just for fun” group!  Anyway, an emergency meeting was called and John, KB8UWA was elected as President, Jesse, KC8IYC was elected as Vice President, Art, NK8X was elected Treasurer (in absentia), and I was elected secretary and trustee.  It was decided that any other ham that had a portable station, or the desire to have a portable station, or the mildly passing THOUGHT to have a portable station, would be a Second Vice President.  Now all the stars were aligned to apply for a club call.  Within a short time KC8MUW was on the air every Wednesday night, with the exception of ARPSC meetings, from every corner of Kalamazoo County!  Hey, this is serious DXing here!

Now we’re at the end of our 7^th summer of having fun.  For 2003 we added a couple of portable grills and have enjoyed some really nice cookouts with those.  The quality, and quantity of portable stations has increased considerably also.  There are at least four portable packet stations, and with the upgrade of our trustee portable HF operations are a regular part of the fun.  The public service events that used to be a communications challenge are now becoming an automatic setup.  We’ve visited every outlying fire station and been able to meet most of their personnel, which makes for a much better interface in a real emergency.  As other amateurs have learned of the adventures the LOSTeam has been invited to give presentations at club meetings across Southwest Michigan.  It seems that at each meeting we attend there has been one or two individuals that have joined us on a regular basis, and have become some of the most active members we have.  Also, the group is the official communications response unit for Michigan’s 5^th State Police District.

If any of you were planning on being in Southwest Michigan on a Wednesday evening, I would certainly invite you to make a call on the 147.000 repeater in Kalamazoo.  Almost anyone on there would have information on meeting places and times.  If you like more information on starting a LOSTeam in your area, or information on LOSTeam shirts and stickers, please write to information@LOSTeam.com .